MMM article on MSN, witness their confusion

MacGyverIt · Post by **MacGyverIt** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:10 pm

Just wanted to drop a line on yesterday's MSN post of Mr Money Mustache's "how I retired at 30" article. Some of the responses from "readers" are ... mind-boggling. Flat-out hateful, it's such a pity.
http://money.msn.com/retirement-plan/ar ... #ic-anchor

George the original one · Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:18 pm

Imagine how hostile they'd be if they saw Jacob's story.

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:37 pm

I'm starting to think it's the same swarm of gnats that go from one early retirement article to the next posting almost the exact same comments at each one.
@George--Seems to me they'd believe Jacob's story now because it has the ending they predicted (returning to work). Look at the difference in blog comments since he left. It appears the gnats have moved on.

george · Post by **george** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:14 am

Gosh, some people were so hateful. MMM is just telling how he did it.
I struggle with Suze Orman who said she made all that money, and was living a life of debt - but she got out of it by telling others how to live. Or perhaps I've missed something.
But I don't resent or even dislike her. I just don't trust her advice.
BTW MMM didn't go to graduation because he was working, I didn't go because I didn't want to pay for the hire of the gown, photo or the meal.

Hoplite · Post by **Hoplite** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:24 am

Hateful indeed-personal experience hardened into blind prejudice. I can understand the experience part. Many people who do not work for a living have some kind of a hidden well. I've seen family money, working spouse, drug dealing, scamming/swindling, money laundering, tax evasion, mountains of debt that will never be repaid, etc. But I can't see how any of this is even relevant to the article. Some called it a lie-but even though I am not a big fan of MMM, the honesty comes through clearly (especially his describing his 2d year in business as a disaster). Then some implicitly concede it isn't a lie and blast him for living like a neolithic savage. Others for being lucky! Which is it?? Just can't win here.

MacGyverIt · Post by **MacGyverIt** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:38 am

@George - LOL I mentioned on the MMM site, if those MSN commenters saw the ERE forums their heads would explode. Which may do some of them a favor, judging from the repulsive remarks.
@Hoplite - there were a lot of folks that assumed illegal activity on MMM's part (i.e. tax evasion) and others who assumed he was using social security and medicaid. It's just so far from their comprehension; I suppose it's almost science fiction to the masses.
What gets me is they clearly didn't read the post thoroughly and CERTAINLY didn't bother going to the MMM site to check out the source material.
@jennypenny - gnats or rats? :-/

dot_com_vet · Post by **dot_com_vet** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:03 am

I'm going to start reading MMM's blog, very fascinating. Smart guy.
(I can't believe the comments people made on the site, though.)

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:13 am

Well, those comments were vicious and disheartening. But very reflective of their authors.

m741 · Post by **m741** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:16 am

I find I simply cannot read the comments on any Early Retirement articles in non-Early Retirement venues. Regardless of whether they're something mainstream like MSN or Yahoo, or a frugal-oriented blog, they basically come off as spiteful and infuriate me.

dragoncar · Post by **dragoncar** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:32 am

Most of the comments read as if the last line of the article was "This guy retired at 30, so what's your excuse?"
Maybe this should be posted in "INTJ problems" but a lot of the time, people in the real world take my comments as some sort of judging afront to their existence. "Stop trying to make me feel bad" is one I've heard a few times. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad, they're doing that by themselves (usually I'm completely indifferent to how people feel -- no malice -- although I'm working on this).
Similarly, people responding to the article "feel bad" because they haven't achieved MMM's success and impute the bad feeling to some sort of imagined aggression by MMM. Hence the comments. Or at least that's my completely amateur psychology analysis.

mikeBOS · Post by **mikeBOS** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:44 am

They're just jealous.

prosaic · Post by **prosaic** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:46 pm

dragoncar, we see that constantly in interactions with various people re: money. I have a niece who, in her teens, threw out an offhand comment about how "lucky" DH and I are financially. It had a slightly bitter tone and involved words I knew had to have come from her mother (my SIL).
I patiently explained that our two families had the same income, same windfalls, and then calmly laid out what her parents had dome with larger sums of money (new cars, recreational toys, constant dining out) vs. what we'd done (invested in a house, paid off debt). She really seemed to "get" it, and is now in her 20s, making somewhat smarter choices with money than her parents and her siblings.
But oy -- it took everything in me not to go to SIL and say "WTF?" No matter what, though, we're labeled "lucky" because we chose careers that bring good money or benefits -- even by another relative who squandered a half-million inheritance in 10 years.
If by "lucky" they mean careful, deliberate, rational and seeking opportunities that make sense, then OK.
And both of these people are the types to wave away stories like MMMs as "impossible." Sigh.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:48 pm

The hate in the comments isn't surprising. Though, MMM by no means attacked anyone or uses derogatory language, his story basically tells everyone they are morons, slaves, and failing at life when they thought they were doing good. The anger is misplaced, but exactly what you would expect a non-rational to do when every single choice in their life is exposed.

flyer2009 · Post by **flyer2009** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:05 pm

Indeed a ton of jealous people out there. It is easier to be the victim. Many people that commented on that article also can't do math above elementary grade level. One commenter scoffed at 800K as being insufficient. I think he has no clue about compound interest or what ROI is.

TheLuckyWizard · Post by **TheLuckyWizard** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:59 am

Simply put; haters gonna hate!

dragoncar · Post by **dragoncar** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:23 am

I have to admit, though MMM has been "lucky" or at least privileged (and I'm sure MMM would admit this too). Some of the commenters pointed out that he got various loans and/or financial assistance with education, happened to do well in the stock market at a time the market was doing well, made good career moves at a time when tech opportunities were high. This is all true. But MMM also made the most of those opportunities and that is to his credit. He saved enough to be able to take advantage of the stock market, for example. I don't think the article is even remotely implying that anyone under any circumstances should have been able to retire like MMM. However, it's a great inspirational story that is sadly lost on so many commenters. I like to think that the hate is just a vocal minority.

newb · Post by **newb** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:04 pm

I agree, I have followed MMM's blog and read all his articles from day 1 since joining here from survival podcast. I wish I had not paid the stupid tax!!! If i knew 10 ys ago what i know now, I could have been far ahead in my FI goal. But, when people get exposed as morons, slaves and fail at life, they dont like hearing what they need to change. I see that all the time in my job, except it's diabetics losing their feet because they dont take care of themselves.